Sometimes serious news comes along with a nagging distraction that puts a hitch in effort to take it soberly at face value. So here it is: Science’s editors today revealed they have withdrawn a 2009 paper on detection of a retrovirus in patients with chronic fatigue syndrome. One of the authors: Vince Lombardi. Actually one does not know his nickname, but the name is Vincent C. Lombardi. Either way one has difficulty not, briefly, smirking over the late-coach Lombardi’s little-known involvement in biomedical studies.
Doubts about the paper have circulated almost since it was published. Those who follow medical news closely, especially the grassroots patients advocacy wing, know about the background. In a statement over the name of editor-in-chief Bruce Alberts, the journal says it has “lost confidence” in the original report due to poor quality control in key aspects of the reported research, and failure of other groups to replicate the finding of elevated xenotropic murine leukemia virus in people with the condition.
The paper ran in October, 2009, with Lombardi the lead author in a group at the Whittemore Peters Institute in Reno, Nevada.
Some outlets already have stories up. Several note that the affair is not simple. Retraction by the journal came despite objection by some of the authors. The events leading up to it have already had surprising consequences, including the arrest of one author, since fired by the institute, who refused to sign the retraction and is being sued by her former employer for alleged coverup of data:
- AP – Malcolm Ritter: Study linking virus and chronic fatigue retracted ;
- Medpage Today – John Gever: Journal Retracts Paper Linking Mouse Virus to CFS;
- Wall St. Journal – Katherine Hobson: Science Retracts Paper on XMRV-Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Link
- Bloomberg-Business Week – Elizabeth Lopatto: Science Journal Retracts Paper Linking Fatigue and Virus ;
- ScienceInsider – Jon Cohen: In a Rare Move, Science Without Authors’ Consent Retracts Paper That Ties Mouse Virus to Chronic Fatigue Syndrome ; Also see, Civil Court Rules Against Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Researcher ;
- Ars Technica – John Timmer: Paper linking XMRV to Chronic Fatigue Syndrome finally retracted ;
The events public history was recounted in Science in September by Cohen and Martin Enserink;
– Charlie Petit
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